Jack Loftus

Sports helped get HDTV into the mainstream. Fact. It was thought sports would do the same with 3D. Who wouldn't want to see career-ending helmet-to-helmet hits in the third dimension? A lot of people, actually. ESPN 3D is a flop.

We're now halfway through ESPN's one-year 3D trial run and nothing's happening. Money's certainly going into the medium, sure, but the trouble is nothing's coming back out.

"We're still not sure what makes sense for 3DTV and we don't yet see a proven ROI," said Jonathan Pannaman, ESPN Senior Director of Technology, in an interview with TVB Europe. ROI being short for "return on investment." In this case it sounds like the "R" is "0."

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The silver lining for the four guys watching ESPN 3D is that ESPN still has plans in place for a second year of 3D programming in 2011. [TVB Europe via Engadget HD]